Sunday morning, December 11.  When I get up the temperature is 1.3 degrees.  An hour later it has dropped to -.3.  Our first subzero temperature of the winter!  I throw on snow pants, boots, coat and gloves, grab the camera, and head out.

There is a rime of frost over everything.  The first light is on the opposite hills, and it is rose-colored.  The world is white and rose.  Separate ice crystals are visible on the twig-ends of the branches in front of me.  The air is utterly still, so it doesn’t feel that cold, even using the camera with bare hands.  There is that perfect stillness that comes with very cold mornings, as light breaks over the world.